Fundraiser set for crash victim

A fundraiser for a Greeley man seriously injured when the car he was driving hit a dead horse on the road will take place Thursday in Gilcrest.

The fundraiser at Valley High School, 1001 Birch St., will start at 6 p.m. and feature a spaghetti dinner, raffle and silent auction. Cost is $10 per person.

Money raised will help defray medical expenses for David Chacon.

Chacon, 40, was driving to work at Denver International Airport the night of May 4 when he hit the body of a horse in the road. The crash occurred on Weld County Road 45 between Weld County roads 8 and 10. Chacon’s vehicle flipped and rolled on its roof, pinning his legs.

The horse had been hit by a school bus and killed about 9:40 p.m. The bus was delivering band students and a few adults to Weld Central High School in Keenesburg after their trip to Florida. According to reports, the bus driver continued on to the school after hitting the horse.

Chacon was first hospitalized at Denver Health Medical Center. Two weeks ago he was moved to Craig Hospital, a rehabilitation center in Denver, where he is expected to remain until September.

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Chacon has limited motion in his arms and no ability to move his legs, said Louie Encinias, Chacon’s father-in-law.

“It was pretty bad,” Encinias said. “He went through a lot. He went through a lot of surgeries.”

Chacon was born in Greeley and grew up in La Salle. He graduated from Valley High School in 1987 and is married and has two daughters, ages 12 and 10. He has worked as a mechanic for Frontier Airlines for 10 years.

Encinias said Chacon was active in athletics in high school, and later volunteered in Greeley as a Little League baseball coach and a coach for Special Olympics.

This year he started coaching the Greeley Knockouts, his older daughter’s traveling softball team.